One-half of Canadians would work more with shorter commute

42 per cent no longer tethered to desk every day: Survey

08/24/2012|hrreporter.com|Last Updated: 08/30/2012

Almost one-half (42 per cent) of Canadian professionals are no longer tethered to their desks and are free to work from locations other than their company’s main offices two-and-a-half days a week or more, according to a survey by Regus, provider of flexible workspaces.

But if people weren’t stuck with a long commute (which averages 26 minutes each way, according to Statistics Canada), one-half (52 per cent) would spend that extra time doing more work, found the survey of more than 16,000 professionals, including 252 Canadian professionals, in more than 80 countries.

“There are tremendous benefits to flexible working. If you reduce an employee’s commuting time up to five hours a week, you’ll have happier and healthier workers who are more productive, which benefits them and the bottom line,” said Wes Lenci, vice-president of Regus Canada.

If respondents weren’t stuck in traffic every day, they’d spend the extra time: